Posted Feb. 15, 2015, at 6:04 a.m.
In addition to death by hunters and vehicles, parasites — such as winter ticks, lungworm and tapeworm — are killing many of Maine’s moose. So many that the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, in a knee-jerk reaction to mortality reports last spring, dramatically lowered the number of moose permits proposed. Thus, nearly 950 fewer moose were killed by hunters in 2014 compared to 2013. Again, 280 fewer permits are being proposed for 2015.
Yet some moose tick experts believe a connection exists between tick infestations and overpopulation. Also, overbrowsing of immature hardwood forests, another indicator of overpopulation, results in malnourished animals and slows reforestation, an economic concern for large landowners.
Why, then, is the moose harvest being reduced? Isn’t a greater harvest one of the most effective remedies for controlling ticks and overbrowsing?
Death by winter tick and starvation are the cruelest ways for a moose to die. Tens of thousands of these tiny bugs attach themselves to animals and suck the blood. The moose becomes anemic, and when warmth and food are needed the most, instead of eating, it frantically rubs off its winter fur coat to detach the ticks. The sight of a tick-infested animal makes it easy to fathom why even the hungriest carnivores pass up a dead carcass.
Better to die by a bullet.